Ohio's 9th congressional district has been represented by Representative Marcy Kaptur (D) since 1983.
This district is located in the northwestern part of the state, bordering Michigan, Indiana, and Ontario, Canada (via Lake Erie), and includes all of Defiance, Williams, Fulton, Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, and Erie counties, and a portion of northern Wood County.
The previous iteration of the 9th district stretched along Lake Erie from Toledo to Cleveland, and was called "The Snake by the Lake" due to its long and skinny appearance on the map. The two parts of the district were connected only via the Thomas Edison Memorial Bridge between Erie and Ottawa counties, as well as Crane Creek State Park. Some Ohio Democrats argued that when the beach flooded, the district was not contiguous.
It was one of several districts challenged in a 2018 lawsuit seeking to overturn Ohio's congressional map as unconstitutional gerrymandering. According to the lawsuit, the 9th "eats its way across the southern border of Lake Erie" while fragmenting Cleveland and Toledo. In 2019, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, meaning that Ohio's congressional districts, including District 9, would not need to be redrawn.
The district was one of 13 congressional districts that voted for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election while simultaneously electing a Democrat in the 2024 House of Representatives elections.
For the 118th and successive Congresses (based on redistricting following the 2020 census), the district contains all or portions of the following counties, townships, and municipalities:
Defiance County (16)
Erie County (18)
Fulton County (10)
Lucas County (22)
Ottawa County (20)
Sandusky County (22)
Williams County (21)
Wood County (8)
The following chart shows historic election results. Bold type indicates victor. Italic type indicates incumbent.